Mission statement: On this blog we explore why homeschooling can be a better option for children and families than a traditional classroom setting. We'll also explore homeschooling issues in general, educational thoughts, family issues, and some other random stuff.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Carnival of Homeschooling: Week 80

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling: The top 10 reasons to homeschool*

I've noticed that these reasons for homeschooling are phrased with the assumption that there must be something wrong with the school, wrong with the child or wrong with the family to motivate homeschooling. This is not surprising considering the list came from the Department of Education. Thus, I've added my own commentary in parenthesis.

NOTE: We apologize if we missed any posts. Google’s spam filter is very aggressive. Henry found 5 or 6 posts buried in with the 370+ spam emails the Carnival of Homeschooling received this week. Also, we've noticed that some entries spent 12 hours in limbo before they were delivered to CarnivalofHomeschooling@gmail.com.

Can give child better education at home (or good enough for less time)

Annette at Homeschooling Journey explains the use of Scope and Sequence. If you think you may one day be returning your child to the public school system, it's essential for you to understand what a scope and sequence is.

Barb at The Heart of Harmony explains how art is something homeschoolers push aside many times for the more academic subjects. Summer is a great time to work on drawing with your children. Here is a great book called Drawing with Children to get you started.

Jenny at Little Acorns Treehouse points out how "with unschooling, you need to have a resource rich environment and access to a wide variety of materials that you can follow as your child asks questions or shows interest" in The Summer of Unschooling.

Have you ever heard the argument that moms teaching teen boys is unproductive? Kim at Mother-Lode explores this debate in Mothers and Sons.

To develop character/morality

Homeschool parents often run into a conflict between their values and those promoted by the public school system. This phenomenon can also find its way into our relationships with extended family members. Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy gives some good advice in Planning for Christmas.

The following is a response I sent to an email I received from a homeschooler that lives in my town, who I met about a year ago, who comes to my homeschool support group meetings, has been to my house and has seen all the books and educational “stuff” we have in our home.

Do you remember the Summer Hill School founded in 1920's. Their unique philosphy influenced the homeschool pioneer, John Holt. Wired for Noise describes how she stumbled across a book on Summer Hill School.

Other problems with available schools (or support from the wonderful homeschooling community).

Student behavior problems at school (or not wanting to mess up an already well behaved child)

Sometimes we can have behavior problems in the blogosphere too. It is easy to get sucked up into a heated response to a comment. Homeschooling and education are one of those topics that can inspire great passion and harsh words on both sides. Hernandez at APMFormulators has some sound advice on how to avoid a tit-for-tat debate in Christian Women who Love to fight.

Child has special needs/disability (or don't all children have special needs?)

Each child has "special" needs and homeschooling helps parents meet those needs. Denise at Let's play math! has a card deck for number games, plus how to make a nifty card holder for young hands in How to make Math Cards.

There you have it, a look at the top ten reasons to homeschool according to the Department of Education. If you have enjoyed this carnival, please spread the word. Please mention the carnival on your blog, and other appropriate places.

Great carnival, though I'm late!And, I know you like announcing carnivals when they're up... so I thought I'd let you know thatthe Homesteading Carnival goes up on Mondays... http://www.homesteadblogger.com/HomesteadingCarnival

Great carnival. Also, you find that there those that always intended to homeschool and those that did not plan to homeschool. Many of these eventually turn to homeschooling as a last resort. We call them accidental homeschoolers